UNC Press provided this overview of the book: “From the colonial period onward, black artisans in southern cities — thousands of free and enslaved carpenters, coopers, dressmakers, blacksmiths, saddlers, shoemakers, bricklayers, shipwrights, cabinetmakers, tailors and others — played vital roles in their communities. Yet only a very few black craftspeople have gained popular and scholarly attention. Catherine W. Bishir remedies this oversight by offering an in-depth portrayal of urban African American artisans in the small but important port city of New Bern. In so doing, she highlights the community’s often unrecognized importance in the history of nineteenth-century black life.

“Drawing upon myriad sources, Bishir brings to life men and women who employed their trade skills, sense of purpose, and community relationships to work for liberty and self-sufficiency, to establish and protect their families, and to assume leadership in churches and associations and in New Bern’s dynamic political life during and after the Civil War. Focusing on their words and actions, ‘Crafting Lives’ provides a new understanding of urban southern black artisans’ unique place in the larger picture of American artisan identity.”

Bishir is curator of Architectural Records Special Collections at North Carolina State University Libraries. She is author or co-author of six books, including “North Carolina Architecture.”

The book launch ceremony and lunch are free, supported in part by a gift from The Harold H. Bate Foundation.

Publication of “Crafting Lives” was supported in part by gifts from Jim and Gail Bisbee, Carolyn Moore Bland, Ken and Ellen Chance, Jim Congleton, Empire Properties with Greg Hatem and Andrew Stewart, First Citizens Bank-New Bern with Alex Badger, Bernard George, John and Katherine Haroldson, George and Emily Henson, Bill and Nancy Hollows, Myrick Howard, Joe and Nancy Mansfield, John Robert and Alison Mattocks, Bob and Carol Mattocks, Nelson McDaniel, Champ and E.T. Mitchell, William Price, Swiss Bear, John and Susie Ward, William Smith and Margaret Norris Ward Bequest and Ben Watford.

The Saturday historic marker ceremony at the Academy will honor the former slaves who joined the Union Army.

During May and June of 1863, formerly enslaved men from New Bern and across Eastern North Carolina were responding to the appeals of federal officials to join the Union infantry as part of the First North Carolina Colored Volunteers.

Page 2 of 2 - On June 30, a sufficient number of men had signed up to form the 1st regiment, which was led by Col. James Beecher, under Gen. Edward A. Wild. At a ceremony held on July 24, 1863, at the city green, freedwoman Mary Ann Starkey of the “Colored Ladies Relief Association of New Bern” presented a silk regimental flag made in Boston with the association’s contributions and with the aid of Beecher’s sister Harriet Beecher Stowe, for the “first North Carolina Colored regiment.”

It was presented to Gen. Wild, who handed it to Col. Beecher, to the cheers of the hundreds of black soldiers and citizens gathered for the occasion. The regiment was the first completed in “Wild’s African Brigade.”

Wild’s regiment conducted raids in Eastern North Carolina, served in South Carolina, fought bravely in Olustee, Fla., and elsewhere, despite many losses through the war. They were some of the first Southern black volunteers among what would become thousands. That included more than 5,000 from North Carolina. The 1st NCCV had been pioneers in demonstrating to the nation the importance of black soldiers to the preservation of the Union.

On Aug. 26, 1863, President Lincoln wrote to a political friend in Illinois that some of his field commanders “who have given us our most important successes, believe the emancipation policy, and the use of colored troops, constitute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the rebellion; and that, at least one of those important successes, could not have been achieved when it was, but for the aid of black soldiers.”